38 Studios Lays Off Entire Staff, Inspires a Twitter Hiring Hashtag

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Early yesterday evening Polygon broke the news that debt-plagued 38 Studios laid off their entire staff. Featuring a source from inside the company, Polygon learned that since May 1st a pay freeze had been in effect for all staff and no answers were coming from the executive staff. The State of Rhode Island had kept a close eye on the studio since it initially defaulted on a check for a $1.125 million loan earlier this month.

The closure came as a surprise to nearly everyone involved, especially in the Rhode Island government and to the staff.

"[Schilling] told reporters that experts told them it would have had to sell 3 million copies to break even. Schilling has said that the game sold about 1.2 million copies in its first 90 days."

Within an hour of the news, developers and gaming media took to Twitter with the hashtag #38jobs, to let the suddenly jobless staff know there were options literally across the world. The listings are also being updated and compiled here.

There's nothing currently known about Project Copernicus or 38's other property, Kingdom of Amalur: Reckoning, and how they will react without a core staff or developer.